10 years of production activity was celebrated today for the Masi Technical Group's “Quality Grapes Project”, used as the basis for the relationship between the Verona-based Masi wine company and its grape suppliers since 2009. Proceedings included a technical seminar hosted by journalist Nereo Pederzolli, with contributions from Raffaele Boscaini, oenologist Andrea Dal Cin and agronomist Roberta Beber, all members of the Masi Technical Group. This decade of collaboration and achievement has guided suppliers in the production of quality grapes with due regard both to sustainability and continuous quality improvement. The celebrations took place at Tenuta Canova, Lazise sul Garda - one of the centres for the Masi Wine Experience – and ended with an enjoyable dinner in the vineyards.
Masi, which grows most of its grapes in wholly-owned or company-managed vineyards, does not buy grapes on the open market, but instead establishes long-term relationships with its own supplier vignerons, sharing production practices and values, and supporting them with technical staff working according to the principles of exactly this "Quality Grapes Project": a virtuous system whereby the company and its vignerons collaborate on an equal standing. The basis of the project is the expert advice supplied using planned vineyard visits, periodic meetings, and bulletins detailing activities suggested in the vineyards with their timescales. Vineyard health, fertility and productivity are regularly monitored, as well as equipment functionality and compliance with regulations and company policy.
"To evolve together from working as peasant farmers to working as professional viticulturalists, hence the protocols for sustainability. Care and respect for the environment are an integral part of Masi’s philosophy. A feeling of gratitude to the Earth guides us; as well as symbiosis with the men who cultivate it, which is the source of real environmental, economic and social sustainability. This latter is made evident by the trust we have from our vignerons, who have worked with Masi, or rather with my family, for generations, in one case at least seven of them.”
The meeting produced copious data about the last decade: the thousands of hours of assistance in the vineyards, the hundreds of periodic bulletins and dozens of educational and cultural meetings, including visits to vineyards, production facilities and agricultural fairs.
"The 2019 vintage is upon us. In our hillside vineyards, in the Verona area, in Trentino, in Valdobbiadene, in Friuli and in Tuscany, there are still a few weeks of worry in the face of a vintage that seems destined to be smaller in quantity, but qualitatively exceptional, worthy of the quality of Masi wines.”
The 600 vignerons involved wear an identifying t-shirt each year with a personalised logo for each harvest.
